The present invention relates to a sectorial sprinkling device which can be used for coal mining with a view to reducing the production of dust and to cooling tools in order to minimise the risk of explosion in atmospheres containing fire-damp.
Coal is mined, in particular, with the aid of integral cutting machines which are provided with one or more mobile arms each bearing a drum equipped with picks, the axis of the arms being perpendicular to the coal face which is being worked. The picks are placed both on the cylindrical surface of the drum and on that plane end surface of the drum which is opposite the worked coal face, that plane end surface often being referred to as a shearing disc. During cutting, the picks of the shearing disc continuously attack the mass of coal, whereas only some of the picks of the cylindrical surface are in contact with the coal at any given moment. Relative to the cutting machine, the position of these picks corresponds to a cylindrical sector of the drum. In general, the cutting arm is capable of occupying either a high position (roof mining) or a low position (floor mining). A cylindrical sector of the drum corresponds to each of these positions, for the picks which are in contact with the coal at any given moment, and these two sectors generally overlap to some extent.
The cutting machines often possess two cutting arms, one of which is situated at the front of the machine and is in the high position while the other of which is situated at the rear and is in the low position. When the cutting machine reaches the end of the cut, the position of the arms is reversed before the direction of movement of the machine is changed.
It is known to project water onto the mass of coal to be mined, in the vicinity of each pick. Picks exist which are specifically designed for this purpose, possessing a water-spraying nozzle at an appropriate point.
It is desirable to reduce the consumption of water which is used to the strictly minimum amount which is necessary, and thus at any given moment to supply only those picks which are in contact with the coal, namely on the one hand the picks of the shearing disc and on the other hand the picks of the cylindrical sector which are in contact with the mass of coal at that particular moment.
It is an object of the invention to provide a device for distributing spinkler water which is installed in the central part of a mining drum and comprises three feed circuits which permit the permanent feeding of the picks of the shearing disc and the selective feeding of the picks of two lateral cylindrical sectors, depending on the direction of horizontal movement of the drum.